


Chasing the Dragon

by Sholio



Category: Iron Fist (TV)
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-27
Updated: 2018-10-27
Packaged: 2019-08-08 15:16:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16431896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sholio/pseuds/Sholio
Summary: "You're in trouble now," Ward tells Creepy Tattoo Lady with manic cheeerfulness, right before an incandescently furious Danny punches a swath through her goons. (For a prompt on Tumblr.)





	Chasing the Dragon

**Author's Note:**

> For the tumblr prompt: _Danny and Ward get matching tattoos?_ ... which my brain promptly went and did THIS with. Also for my h/c bingo "torture" square.

There are times when Ward's been glad to see Danny and times when he really hasn't been, but he's pretty sure he's never been _this_ glad. What can he say, being tied to a post while some lady who acts like the Crane Sisters' deranged cousin tattoos a dragon onto his chest with what feels like a red-hot poker is definitely not his finest hour. The drugs they gave him to keep him compliant (and wow, does he ever _hate_ that out-of-control feeling now) don't seem to be dulling the pain; if anything there's an extra saw-edge to it.

"You're in trouble now," he tells Creepy Tattoo Lady with manic cheeerfulness, right before an incandescently furious Danny punches a swath through her goons.

A few minutes and a lot of goon-punching later, Danny is cutting him down and Ward wilts gratefully onto him. "Are you okay?" Danny asks, which is the _stupidest fucking question_ and he would definitely have a lot to say about that if he weren't trying to keep from falling over or throwing up.

"Can we just get out of here?" he says instead. It comes out kind of small and fragile, and Danny sort of half-hugs him and gets him out of there.

 

*

 

"So what was she actually _doing?_ " he asks Danny later. He's sitting on the edge of a tub in a hotel room bathroom, gripping it to keep from sliding off (the drugs aren't completely out of his system yet; he's still not that stable) while Danny mops blood off his chest. Tattoo Lady wasn't gentle with her implements of ink-stabbing. "Somehow I doubt she was trying to turn me into the Iron Fist. If so, boy did they have a surprise coming."

Danny smiles a little at that. "No, I think they were trying to do some sort of ... of chi transfer? They were trying to link you to me, and then use that link to steal the Iron Fist from me."

"But you don't have it anymore."

Danny grimaces as he wrings out the cloth in the bathtub; pink-tinged water swirls down the drain. "Yeah, well, a lot of people don't know that. I'm sorry, Ward."

"Not your fault." An alarming thought occurs to him then, as the explanation percolates through his hazy brain. "It didn't _work_ , did it? We're not, like -- linked, in any way? I mean, I like you, man. But not that much."

"No, Ward," Danny says with a grin. "It didn't. Actually, I don't know if it would've worked even if she had managed to finish it. I've heard of this technique, but I've never actually heard of it working. At least, not the way she was trying to do it." He sits back on his heels. "Do you want painkillers?"

"No," Ward says flatly. The lightheadedness is bad enough, especially the familiarity of it, the way he still wants it even while he doesn't. He's not adding anything else to it, even if it's nothing more than Tylenol. "No, I just need to sleep." He takes a breath. "And ... maybe get a look at what she did to me."

Danny's face darkens a little at that, but he gives him a hand up and supports him over to the mirror above the sink. Now that the blood and soot is washed off and Ward can get a better look, it's ... well, not _too_ bad. She managed to finish the dragon's head and part of one wing before Danny stopped her.

"I don't suppose they taught you any mystical tattoo removal techniques," Ward remarks as he stares at himself in the mirror. It's weird, seeing those twisting black shapes on his skin, that he didn't put there. He wonders if Danny ever feels that way about his tattoo.

"No. Sorry. You could get cosmetic surgery or something, I guess?"

"Yay," Ward says flatly. He's still looking at himself in the mirror, trying to get used to it. Maybe it would help if it didn't look like ... well, like the person who was doing it got punched by a pissed-off kung fu black belt halfway through (and also incidentally rammed her tattoo needle three inches deep into his chest when that happened; thanks, Danny).

"It doesn't look that bad," Danny offers, although he looks like he's wishing he'd punched Tattoo Lady and her goons a few more times. "You know, you probably _could_ get that off with surgery."

 

*

 

Instead he ends up having another tattoo artist modify it for him. He doesn't really want a dragon, so she creates a design for him that curves and twists, kind of like a snake, kind of like smoke. 

Danny tries to talk him out of it ("Keeping even part of that might make you a target, you know.") but he doesn't really care; the thought has occurred to him, actually, that if _Danny_ is still a target because of a tattoo that's nothing more than scar tissue these days, it might not hurt to spread the confusion around a little bit. And it takes a little getting used to, but ... he thinks he might kinda like it. Ward Meachum, straight-laced businessman, son and heir of Harold Meachum, would never in a million years have a garish tattoo splashed across his chest, and as far as Ward's concerned, that's a plus.

It does look a lot like Danny's tattoo at a glance, when his shirt's unbuttoned enough to show the dragon's head but not enough to display the rest of it. Which he doesn't tend to think about much (it's not like _he_ has to look at it, most of the time) until a stray comment from the bartender at a nightclub in Johor Bahru. She speaks fluent English, and Ward's been casually trying to flirt with her while he nurses a club soda, while she's been flirting with Danny and Danny is completely oblivious, because Danny. "Oh," she says suddenly, "you have matching tattoos! Is it a gang thing?"

She sounds excited by the possibility.

"Yeah," Ward says, "the 'tied to a post and tortured while someone tried to steal my chi' gang. It's great. You should join."

Danny decides to hustle him out of the nightclub at that point for some reason.


End file.
